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Tinnitus treatment

a technology for tinnitus and treatment, applied in the field of tinnitus treatment, can solve the problems of removing tinnitus, medications have not been proven effective, and the treatment of tinnitus has not been successful or proved effective, and achieves the effect of prolonging the residual inhibition

Inactive Publication Date: 2014-02-13
TIPA TINNITUS
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention offers a new way for tinnitus sufferers to find some relief from their condition, which is better than existing methods.

Problems solved by technology

It is often associated with other hearing difficulties, but may present alone.
Antidepressants are commonly used to alleviate the distress felt because of the condition but do not stop the tinnitus.
Various treatments have been tried to alleviate or cure tinnitus and have either been unsuccessful or have unproven results.
Medications have proven unsuccessful.
Hearing aids which increase normal speech above the level of the tinnitus may assist with a sufferer's hearing; however, these do not remove the tinnitus.
In addition to assisting with hearing, the aids can introduce white noise to the ear(s) of the sufferer, thereby providing some masking.
This approach is as yet unproven.
None of these treatments have shown any lasting effects.
To date, there has been no therapeutically successful treatment of tinnitus in terms of producing medium or long term remission.
Utilizing a cochlear implant is not a recommended treatment for tinnitus.
Cochlear implants generally destroy the normal hearing of the patient's implanted ear.
So the presumed loss of hearing in one ear did not improve the patient's symptoms over time.
In fact, residual inhibition is not sought or utilized as part of current tinnitus masking therapies.
Despite this, however, many patients are overly impressed with the demonstration of residual inhibition.

Method used

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Examples

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case study volunteer # 1

[0073]Case Study Volunteer #1

[0074]The first case study involved a 67 year old female who developed constant unremitting tinnitus in the right ear.

[0075]She had normal hearing which was unusual for her age. The tinnitus was sometimes pulsatile and sometimes continuous but always present. Carotid Doppler showed plaque in the carotids but normal flows and a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of the brain was normal.

[0076]On initial assessment she had 7 hours of complete residual inhibition after initial testing with a 60 Hz sawtooth wave in the right ear. She was then treated weekly with this signal in both ears for 10 minutes at each visit. The period of complete residual inhibition became longer after each treatment.

[0077]A further two months later she reported 72 hours of complete residual inhibition and said that she no longer heard her tinnitus during the day.

[0078]After another fortnight tinnitus was present but she said that tinnitus had been absent all week.

[0079]One week l...

case study volunteer # 2

[0081]Case Study Volunteer #2

[0082]A 74 year old male complained of constant unremitting tinnitus in his left ear which had been present for nine years. His audiogram showed a small bilateral high tone sensory loss consistent with presbycusis. The hearing loss was a little worse in the left ear. A CT scan of the brain was normal.

[0083]At the initial assessment, he achieved complete residual inhibition following a three minute exposure to a 44 Hz square wave signal applied to the left ear.

[0084]Arrangements were made to him to return for weekly treatment, however, he called to say that his tinnitus had not returned and that he was very pleased with the treatment. He was asked to return if the tinnitus reappeared. Two months later he was phoned and he again reported no tinnitus. He has not been heard from since and is therefore presumed to be “cured”.

case study volunteer # 3

[0085]Case Study Volunteer #3

[0086]A 29 year old male developed left sided tinnitus after walking behind a jet engine on the tarmac at Sydney Airport. He has normal hearing. The tinnitus was interfering with his ability to work.

[0087]Three weeks after walking behind the jet engine, the tinnitus had not subsided as initially expected and was still interfering with his work. After three minutes of 27 Hz square wave applied to the left ear he had 50% partial residual inhibition.

[0088]This was followed by three minutes of stimulation with a 20 Hz square wave which produced complete residual inhibition.

[0089]The tinnitus has not returned since.

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PUM

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Abstract

A method of treatment of the symptoms of tinnitus is disclosed in which a non-sinusoidal pulsating electric waveform having a pulse repetition rate (frequency) less than 100 Hz is applied to a headphone or an earphone or a like acoustic transducer worn by a tinnitus sufferer. Square, sawtooth and triangular waveforms are suitable. Preferably a sequence of square, triangular, square and square waveforms each of duration of 3 minutes, and separated by a silent pause of 10-15 seconds, is applied. Various devices for applying such waveform(s) to such transducers are disclosed including a clinical oscillator, an internet distribution system, a playback device, electronic or magnetic storage devices, and a cochlear implant.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to the treatment of tinnitus and, in particular, to the treatment of subjective tinnitus.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Tinnitus is described as a ringing or similar sensation of sound in the ears. It is a conscious expression of a sound that originates in an involuntary manner in the head of a person, or appears to do so. It is often associated with other hearing difficulties, but may present alone.[0003]Tinnitus is classified into two types known as objective tinnitus and subjective tinnitus. Objective tinnitus is a rarer form and consists of head noises audible to people other than the sufferer. The sounds are generally external to the auditory system and many be caused by repetitive muscle contractions or inner ear structural defects.[0004]The more common subjective tinnitus is much less understood. Sounds heard by sufferers can range from a metallic ringing, buzzing, popping or non-rhythmic beating sounds. The origins ...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): A61F11/04
CPCA61F11/045A61F11/00H04R1/10H04R5/033H04R25/75A61B5/128
Inventor WINKLER, PETER ANTHONY
Owner TIPA TINNITUS
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